Improved Village Relations
by fergie20
Summary: A joke went up about that it was a Shinobi courting ritual and the citizens laughed before returning to what they were doing before the Shinobi ran by. Written for a contest over at KibaKaruiFC on dA. Oneshot.


After the Fourth Shinobi War, the Five great shinobi countries experienced something that had never happened after a war, an increase of relationships between shinobi from the different Hidden Villages. While, yes there were still those who found their love from their Village but there was an increase of contact between them and it was favorably looked upon by those in charge after the combined effort of the nations. Squad members introduced one another to their original team members. To say that some were surprised to see who team members while others realized how brilliant their Kage's could be while putting teams together at such young ages.

One such meeting happened between the Konoha Team Eight and Team Samui which lead to such a relationship. Hinata and Karui had become friends after fighting together in the same squad during the war. The Leaf and Cloud Kunoichi, of course, had some words at their first meeting, something about a blonde, before agreeing to do their best and not to let petty things distract them during battle. This held true and the girls had decided to agree to disagree over the subject.

When the girls had found their respective teammates battered and bruised, but alive, they decided they wanted to meet the teammates the other had worried about during down time. The meeting happened in rebuilt Konoha.

"This place has improved since we were here last." Karui commented to Hinata as they settled down at a local restaurant with their teammates.

"Yeah. We rebuild pretty fast." Kiba interjected as he slouched comfortably in his chair next to Hinata with Shino taking the other side of him.

"This place was trashed the last time we came on it. Karui remember you thought you-" Omoi was stopped in saying what his female friend thought by her punching him. Hinata giggled nervously while Kiba grinned at the fierce girl.

Samui rolled her eyes at the antics and muttered, "Not cool."

"Yes it was trashed. We had just been attacked." Shino stated plainly.

"Yes we had." Hinata stated. "Now I am going to assume that is Omoi," Hinata pointed at the man nursing his head, "And that it Samui." Hinata nodded at the short haired blonde woman.

"You got them right. But them again it's not hard to mix up Omoi and Samui. Then again… Omoi does act like a girl sometimes." Omoi protested the statement while the rest laughed. Karui then directed her sharp eyes at the two young men beside Hinata. "You are Shino." She stated at the sunglasses wearing shinobi and turned to the other teammate. "You are Kiba, though Hinata did not tell me Akamaru was the handsome one of the group," she off handedly joked while ruffling the hair of the ninken.

Kiba raised an eyebrow in disbelief at his female teammate and decided to go along with the Cloud Kunoichi's joke. "Hinata! You didn't tell her that Akamaru was the best looking? I'm ashamed."

Hinata sighed and shook her head, "Now look what you have done Karui." The others at the table laughed at the continued joke. "But good job on nailing who was who." The two girls smiled at each other and the conversation started up between the six.

Indelibly, the conversation turned to their profession, which Kiba and Karui were leading. When talking about past experiences, Kiba grudging admitted that Naruto had beat him in the Chunnin Exams the first time they took them. Karui laughed at the admittance.

"Really? But now that seems not that bad since he is the keeper of the Nine-Tails, Bee-sama is pretty awesome when he and the Eight-Tails fight together."  
"We did not know that about Naruto back then," Shino stated. "We were under the impression the Nine-Tails was dead and that Naruto was made an orphan by the war. Not that he was the keeper."

"Wait, you didn't know the blonde was the Fox?" Omoi asked.

"No, though our parents and others of the community did and treated him horribly." Hinata stated stiffly but smile when she spoke next, "That has began to change though in the past years so, all is well."

"I would actually like a legit fight with him. Not just use him as a punching bag." Karui stated as she tipped her chair back. Hinata's faced twitched a bit before returning to a neutral expression.

"Heh. Same here, though for different reasons." There was a brief pause then Karui's chair returned to the floor with a clunk and the Cloud Kunoichi and the Leaf Ninja exchanged looks.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Karui asked with an excited gleam in her eye as she leaned across the table.

"A match between the two of us right now? Hell ya." Kiba stated. "Follow me! We're going to the team's old training field."

The two darted out, leaving behind their teammates who were looking at each other in exasperation, confusion, and disbelief.

"Come on. I will lead us to the training ground. Hinata, you know basic healing jutsu correct?" The Hyuga nodded before they followed their teammate to Team 8's training field.

The citizens on the streets were slightly bewildered when Kiba Inuzuka along with Akamaru and foreign Kunoichi zoomed by, only to be followed by Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame and what they assumed to be the foreign Kunoichi's teammates. A joke went up about that it was a Shinobi courting ritual and the citizens laughed before returning to what they were doing before the Shinobi ran by.

*.*.*

Kiba and Karui had arrived at training field, soon followed by their teammates, who took their seats in trees around the training ground.

"So what are the rules?" Kiba asked the golden eyed Kunoichi.

"First one to able to deliver a 'killing blow' wins." Karui stated with a gleam.  
Kiba grinned and Akamaru yipped in approval. "You're on. On the count of three then?"

"Sounds good to me." Karui answered. "Count down together?"

"One." Kiba and Karui parted a bit. "Two." Kiba pulled out a kunai out of his weapons pouch while Karui grasped behind her to grab the hilt of her sword. "Three." The two ninja took off while the spectators began to wonder how this fight was going to go.

"I think they are evenly matched though I think Karui will come out on top." Samui stated as she leaned against the nearest tree trunk.

"Man, Karui is going get him quick!" Omoi stated in a more positive statement.  
Shino echoed Samui's sediments but in the opposite in Kiba's favor. Hinata nodded at her teammate's statement and the four became enthralled in the spar in front of them.

Karui was defending and dodging Kiba and Akamaru's attacks as they came at her. In a surprise move, Kiba called off his ninken and began to fight the Cloud ninja by himself. Karui face showed clear surprise at this move but didn't let it faze her that much as Kiba began his attack anew. Hooking his kunai around Karui's sword, Kiba jerked back and disarmed Karui of her sword. Kiba let his kunai go with it too. Karui held up her fists and aimed for Kiba's head to disorient him so she could grab her sword. Kiba caught her fist and took a shot himself and Karui caught his fist. The two grunted in the effort of trying to get through the others guard. Both tried to fake the other out of their grip by feinting at the same time. Kiba and Karui's heads cracked against each other with a resounding knock and the two fell down.

The four watching were stunned as they watched their friends fall.

Hinata shook herself before going to go check on her two friends. The others followed over as Hinata roused the two.

Both groaned and looked at each other then asked Hinata at the same time, "Who won?"

"Um both of you! " Hinata stated cheerfully at them. "Instantaneous KO's for both of you."

Karui sighed and warily stood and walked over to where her sword had been casted aside to and Kiba quickly got up and followed. Hinata quirked an eyebrow at the action and gave a sly glance at Shino, who shrugged. Omoi scratched his head while Samui crossed her arms.

"Hey Karui." The sword fighter looked at her former opponent.

"Yes?"

"How about I take you out to dinner and make up the fact that we totally made fools of ourselves in front of our friends?" Kiba inquired, hoping she would say yes. The girl had a spark in her and Kiba wanted to see more of it.

"Hmmm." Karui hummed as expertly checked her sword for nicks then pointed it at Kiba's throat. "I win. So yea, loser buys." Karui grinned and Kiba looked slightly stunned before returning the smile himself. Karui sheathed her sword behind her back and the two hooked arms before heading back to their friends who were wearing varied expressions that ranged from confusion to happiness at the pair.

*.*.*

Hinata would deny playing match matcher with her friends at their wedding, though she would always answer the inquiry with a mischievous smile.

...

_Read and Review if you have the time! _

_Dis: Do not Own Naruto. Kishi does. I can't even draw._


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